Owner Alain Giraud -- the decades-long reigning eminence grise of the city's French restaurant scene, from Lavande to Bastide to Anisette -- has opened a casual but decidedly on-point bistro in dining-deprived Pacific Palisades. This counts as meeting halfway for Malibu-based big shots who don't want to drive deeper into the Westside.

Plan Check

1800 Sawtelle Blvd.

The Big Industry Neighbor: Morgan Creek Productions

Along West L.A.'s noodle corridor sits this Asian-inflected hub of New American menu moments where the fried chicken is a jidori bird accompanied by smoked milk gravy, the signature burger features cheese blended with dashi broth and the pastrami sandwich is smeared with kimchi mustard.

Mere footsteps from the Venice Beach boardwalk yet so far from its touristy cheese, this astute outdoor cafe -- named after noted Minimalist artist and neighborhood fixture Larry Bell -- is a beacon for those nearby in gastronomically derelict Playa del Rey. The pub grub is urbane, but order the crass Porkalicious Pizza: bacon, chorizo, sausage, prosciutto.

The Pub at Golden Road

5410 W. San Fernando Road

The Big Industry Neighbor: DreamWorks Animation

Craft beers and vegan-friendly vittles beside a set of train tracks near Glendale: This haunt for the ethically minded, artisanally aware set replaces the steak-and-martini meal of yore with a coconut salad-and-IPA order in a former Southern Pacific railway switching station. It's from the owner of Echo Park's similarly pitched Mohawk Bend.

RivaBella

9201 Sunset Blvd.

The Big Industry Neighbor: Mosaic

The famed Hamburger Hamlet address at the western edge of the Sunset Strip has been transformed into this traditional Italian concept, opened Jan. 14, from the folks behind BOA across the street. The 8,000-square-foot indoor/outdoor space is presided over by noted L.A. chef Gino Angelini, who is the owner of popular Beverly Boulevard restaurant Angelini Osteria.

The Big Industry Neighbor: The Prospect Studios (ABC Television Center)

The husk of an old Brown Derby restaurant, first opened by Cecil B. DeMille, has found new life as this astute interpretation of au courant Americana. The sandwiches range from poor boys to smoked brisket. Sweet potato fritters come with pumpkin-seed Romesco sauce. And, fittingly, there's a Cobb salad (the Derby is where it all began).

The Pikey

7617 W. Sunset Blvd.

The Big Industry Neighbor: Paramount Studios

The former Coach & Horses pub has been reimagined by Sean MacPherson -- an owner of Manhattan's Waverly Inn -- and business partner Jared Meisler as this Spotted Pig-esque take on the genre. There's a persimmon salad with speck, ravioli with house-made ricotta and a cocktail anchored in cheap whiskey that's named after Divine Brown.

At night, foodies flock from afar to acclaimed chef Josef Centeno's bustling, Mexican-by-way-of-the-Mideast small-plates place in downtown L.A.'s loft district. During the day, locals arrive for the namesake addictive flatbread sandwiches stuffed with such combinations as oxtail hash with horseradish sauce and crispy shrimp with sriracha.

Sotto

9575 W. Pico Blvd.

The Big Industry Neighbor: 20th Century Fox Studios

Just south of Beverly Hills and east of Century City, this highly regarded dinnertime Italian stallion -- only open for lunch Wednesday through Friday -- is somehow still a secret at high noon. Forget that diet and order such guilt gorgings as the crispy pork-belly porcetto sandwich, the chicken-liver ragu rigatoni and the tomato-braised octopus.

Muddy Leek

8631 Washington Blvd.

The Big Industry Neighbor: Sony Pictures Studios

Culver City's gallery row hosts this sit-down farm-to-table redoubt of next-level basics (a chorizo-fingerling potato stew) with a serious sandwich menu -- see the mint and rosemary roast leg of lamb with harissa on olive focaccia -- that helps put the neighborhood in league with better-tended points north of the 10 Freeway.